Who is in line to become the next Tottenham Hotspur manager?
Who is in line to become the next Tottenham Hotspur manager?
By Tom Masters
Tottenham Hotspur today announced that they had parted ways with Nuno Espirito Santo following Spurs’ 3-0 defeat against Manchester United at the weekend.
Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford appear to have saved Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job at Old Trafford but forced Nuno out of Spurs after just 17 matches in charge.
Tottenham lie in eighth place in the Premier League table after back-to-back defeats, whilst they have lost all four London derbies this season, going down 3-0 to Chelsea and Crystal Palace, 3-1 to Arsenal and 1-0 to West Ham.
Those defeats, together with the United loss and the fact the club have only managed nine Premier league goals in ten matches, appear to have made Daniel Levy’s mind up that it was time for a change.
But the question is, who is in line to replace the former Wolves manager?
We look at five candidates for the much-coveted Spurs job.
Antonio Conté
Without a doubt, Antonio Conte will be Levy’s number one.
He has succeeded everywhere he has been, taking Inter from a struggling side to winning a Scudetto before falling out with the board over their financial situation and exiting.
The Italian has a CV that speaks for itself, winning a Premier League title and an FA Cup in his time with Chelsea, succeeding with Juventus, winning three Serie A titles in a row, getting Brescia promoted from Serie B and re-establishing Italy among Europe’s elite.
He does have a history of falling out with owners though, as was seen with Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, and his treatment of players also came into question when he decided Diego Costa was no longer in his plans and told him via a text message.
What Conté also has though, is an incredible ability to get results, and to drastically change a team’s fortunes.
With Chelsea, he was able to turn their season around after the heavy 3-0 defeat to Arsenal, reverting to a 3-4-3 formation which has been re-adopted by Thomas Tuchel since he returned, he may just be the perfect man for Tottenham right now.
Another with success in Italy, Fonseca was Fabio Paratici’s first choice when he was appointed the new Spurs director of football.
Supposedly this was abandoned due to tax issues and Nuno came in, however he has re-emerged as a candidate following his compatriot’s short tenure ending.
Fonseca was heralded at Shakhtar Donetsk, winning back-to-back Ukrainian doubles, but it was his work with Roma that impressed Paratici the most.
Fonseca laid the groundwork for former Spurs boss José Mourinho to succeed this season, taking Roma to fifth place and a semi-final of the Europa League, losing just 27 games from his 102 in charge.
He is, however, heavily linked with Newcastle United, who themselves are looking for a new manager following the sacking of Steve Bruce.
It seems inevitable that Fonseca is Premier League bound, whether in the south or the north though remains to be seen.
Graham Potter
Potter has caught the attention of many this season in the Premier League, with Brighton & Hove Albion seventh in the table, losing just two of their opening ten matches.
His style of football may not suit everyone, his Brighton side have managed just 11 goals from ten league matches this season, but there is no doubt about the results he has brought, including an impressive 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Anfield last weekend.
His defensive organisation is something that Spurs could really use, with Brighton adopting a three at the back formation, and as a result conceding only 11 goals this term.
Potter will not be a popular choice for Spurs fans due to his lack of goals scored, but he may just be exactly what Daniel Levy feels he needs.
The Portuguese is a former teammate of Nuno and replaced him at FC Porto, where he is still manager.
He has returned Porto to the top of the Portuguese game, winning their first title in five seasons in 2018, and again the following season.
He has regularly overachieved in the Champions League too, reaching the quarter-finals on multiple occasions, defeating a Juventus side who were expected to ease past them in the last 16 last season before losing to eventual winners Chelsea in the last eight.
Conceicao would certainly relish the rebuilding job that Tottenham would require, whilst he has a reputation for getting the best out of players.
Ryan Mason
Mason took over the Spurs job at the back-end of last season, being selected as interim manager after José Mourinho’s sacking.
There are reports that he could be in the thought process of Levy again, most likely in the capacity of interim manager for a second time, although there is a possibility that Spurs would consider Mason permanently should he come in and change results around.
It seems unlikely that Mason would be given the opportunity to take the Spurs job on a short-term basis again, with Levy almost certain to opt for one of the previous options, although there is the possibility that Mason could at least take charge of Tottenham’s trip to Goodison Park this weekend.
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